


That Month

by cheriberi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Light Angst, Sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28541892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheriberi/pseuds/cheriberi
Summary: After a stressful court battle, Eren Yeager is finally brought into custody of the Survey Corp, he must prove that he can control his power and is not a threat while, also, helping the 'Corps find information on the titans with Eren's help. Although, that single month that was never talked about, what occurred? How many friendships were formed? What did they discover? What happened?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Just the start

**Author's Note:**

> There will be spoilers.

“Your tooth; it grew back.” They mutter under their breath before grabbing the bruised brunette by the side of his chubby face and shoving their thumbs into his mouth to get a better look as he grunts with obvious distaste.

“Ah, sorry about that, Eren. But, does this mean tha-“ The Section-Commander inquires while reaching for the boy opposite them self, before a ghastly splutter shoots out of them and they’re kicked back against the bookcase while they cradle their abdomen in pain.

“Oi, we can ask questions later, plus, you’re freaking him out.” The Captain Levi scoffs before nonchalantly continuing, as if he didn’t just wind Hanji Zoë, “How indecent of you to shove _your_ hands into another person’s mouth.”

“I promise to you, Eren, not everyone in the ‘Corps is like...well... _them_.” The Commander lifts Eren up by his sleeve as he gestures to the two veterans, giving a fatherly head pat and leading off and out. The Captain yanking Eren’s scruff and tossing a glance from Hanji to Mike as he drags the boy out while the two briskly follow Erwin with Mike and a temporarily crippled Hanji wandering a bit further behind.

‘ _Why me, of all people, why have I been given this power? The power of a titan, given to me, why has it been given to me? I’m not one for faith but, **Oh Maria** , why? It feels wrong, this all feels like a dream, actually, scratch that, a bloody nightmare. Although...with this newfound ability of mine, could this technically mean that I’m finally - special?_’ The brunettes remains deep in thought as he is completely oblivious to the Captain’s concerned glances at the zoned out boy.

‘ _Why of all powers, of all of the fucking forsaken abilities that someone could be cursed with, was the power to control and become a disgusting titan...given to a child who hates titans more than I hate filth? He should be chatting with his friends and family but is instead stuck here with people twice his age that he has just met as his only company, poor fucking kid._ ’ The poker faced Levi monologues to himself as he ‘glares’ at the nervous and almost ‘sad’ looking Eren.

Still deep in thought, Eren stands obliviously to the childish bickering of the two, very much, adults stood behind him.

“You’re fucking filthy, you know that, shitty glasses?”

“Oh, whatever, at least I’m over 5’5”, how tall was it again? Three foot? Wow, no wonder you’ve survived this long, the titan’s can’t even see yo-“ The entertained mockery was cut short by a high pitched yelp that ricocheted off the stone and plastered walls.

Yanking Eren out of his thoughts as he watched the, from Eren’s judgement, most terrifying person he has met next to his mother get pounded into the cream coloured wall by the miniature captain’s solid fist, the poker face did good in hiding the blazing storm of anger and aggression that he put into that blow.

“Alright.” The Captain spat out before dragging the newly enlisted -Boy with him by his collar, a struggled strangle escaping his throat at the unexpected force. A couple of audible sniffs fill the air as Erwin just watches Levi drag Eren off to the horses.

“Well?” Erwin asks Mike who is in the process of slinging the unconscious scientist over his shoulder. “I worry for that boy, his hands will be bare in a week from all the scrubbing.” He starts with a few more sniffs, “I, also, worry for how his body and mind will react to Hanji’s experiments and tests.” “Well then. We’ll just have to warn Moblit to keep an extra eye on the section-commander and to ensure that they don't accidentally kill the poor boy.” Erwin carefully answers back while Mike nods in acknowledgment and agreement.

~~~

' _Where are we even fuckin' going? I think I remember the Captain saying something about us going a headquarters..._ ' The young boy's mind races as him and around five other scouts ride leisurely through the crowded forest on horse back, it'd been days since the titan shifter had slept, too on edge to allow any room for rest. Harsh eyebags had formed over the past few hours as the stress that pressed and stung against his brain had started to dissipate and the travelling on uneven and wobbly horse back grew painfully longer by the second.

' _It's not even lunch yet,_ ' He whined and groaned internally as he scrunched his nose bridge and scowled to himself with a petty pout, ' _I just want to sleep._ ' He instinctively, and unknowingly, gnawed on the inside of his cheek to ease his anger, although, he made sure not to draw any blood: knowing full well the pain he would be in for if he accidentally went titan mode and wasn't able to control it. The thought of it alone made him physically shudder and pale instantly, ' _The Captain would fuckin' kill me._ ' He continued to mentally torment himself with all of the possible scenarios that could play out.

A shudder ran up his spine as his felt literal daggers jabbing his hooded neck, curiosity getting the better of him - he turned himself around to investigate the cause of his discomfort only to make direct eye contact with the Captain Levi himself who seemed to be the bearer of the little daggers. And Eren, being the very sensible person he was, instantly clicked his head forward and away from any view of the Captain so that not even his horse was in Eren's peripheral vision. 

He had only just met the man and did not plan on ending up on his bad list, no matter what, which had already started to seem impossible the moment the Captain's small but heavy boot shot Eren's back molar out onto the floor...followed by a variety of other painful beatings. Of course, the Captain assured him that he didn't hate him one bit, the thing is though, Eren didn't trust easily. Well, that was what he liked to tell himself, Eren was a very gullible child deep down and knew it as well.

"Oi, you, Titan-Boy." Eren snapped his head to the noise, not enjoying the nickname but knowing that he was a newbie who didn't demand any respect whatsoever so he would have to deal with it.

"Uh, Yes?" He politely answered with a twitchy smile, he hated hard-arsed bastards who saw themselves as superior and inherently better, whether that be position, or age, or whatever the fucked up people he was around valued themselves in.

"Don't be getting too cocky just because you're now, technically, in the squad. The Captain wouldn't pick a wet-behind-the-ears recruit like you if he had the choice, you're only here because you need an eye keeping on you. Whether you're titan or human, doesn't matter to us, if you even think about transforming I'll-" The creepily old appearing yet young sounding male was cut off from his passive-aggressive lecture, in which Eren was fully muting out, as his horse incorrectly stepped causing the moving teeth of the man to slice right through his tongue.

Blood, a surprising amount, splattered forward and onto Eren's due to the direction in which the confusing man was facing as he bit his tongue. A muffled cough barely managed to escape the younger boy as he tried his uttermost hardest to prevent even a millisecond of anything close to a laugh, ' _Respect them, you need to respect them._ ' Eren would repeat to himself in his mind as he tried his best not to look at the man who was holding a, now blood stained, handkerchief to his still bleeding tongue.

~~~

' _Finally, we're here. Holy shit, no way did that take less than three hours, it felt like a fucking lifetime._ ' He screamed to himself, he tended to do this when alone or when none of his friends were around, just talk to himself. Of course, he would never do it with others around, especially The Levi Squad, they'd think he was mentally troubled - but who is to say he wasn't?

"What is wrong with you Oluo?!" A distant insult met his ears as he snapped his eyes over to what the commotion was all about, a smile small graced his lips but for only a second as he watched the creepy man get berated and lectured by a beautiful woman who had shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and an athletic build. He wasn't too sure on her name but at least he now had the creepy man's name: Oluo.

Their argument carried on as Eren went on and continued to care to the horses who were already inside their stables, blocking out most of the yelling: it was true that she was insanely pretty but her voice was definitely something that Eren would have to learn to deal with ' _So high_.' He thought to himself.

"I gave the titan a perfect first-impression of me, he could barely look me in the eyes, he was in such awe. He had, obviously, already understand his positio-" He goes to finish off before a loud, yet heavy smack booms from the area of the courtyard they're in: a grunting Oluo who is cradling his head and the pretty lady, who now has her face contorted into a fuming and exhausted expression on her, is stood there with her fist clenched and ready to hit again. 

Eren had not seen the hit take place but still felt a feeling of joy blossom in his chest at the thought and image of her beating him up, ' _I hope she does it again_.' Eren smiles to himself as he feeds the horse using a bucket, trying his best not to get any of the feed on him, he had made this mistake back in the cadet days and it stunk out his uniform.

' _Wait- was he referring to me when he said Titan? That son of a bitch, how fuckin' rude of him, self-righteous bastard. No different than the MPs._ ' Eren scowled to himself as he went to go walk off to where the Captain was, too in his intrusive, and highly violent might I add, thoughts; he did not even notice the Captain in front of him and ended up bashing into the shorter man.

"Ah- huh? Oh shit! I'm so sorry, Captain. I-I really didn't see you th-there." He fumbled over his words as he shook his hands violently in an attempt to convince the Captain.

"Hm...It's fine, just watch where you're going next time and don't daydream, you need to stay focused. Also, watch your language, you're only thirteen, a child, children should not be cursing." He berated the boy before thumping Eren gently against the head.

"Oh- Um-, but, sir. I'm fiftee-" He tried his best to respectfully correct his superior before he was cut off.

"Do you want me to refer to you as Foetus-Face? You look fucking five, so be glad I was generous enough to refer to you as a teenager. Like, seriously, you're face is chubby and round like a child, maybe when you start to actually look your age then I'll refer to as such." The Captain berated the fifteen-year old boy with a stone-cold-gaze before forcefully grabbing him by his scruff, like a mother dog with their puppy, and dragging him inside while muttering something along the lines of 'I hope you're ready because you're about to clean like you're motherfucking life depends on it.'

He gulped as the rest of the squad watched the whole ordeal take place, faces of horror and shock at how calm and eased the Captain was with Eren, he hit him but lightly? He told the Captain that 'He didn't see him', and didn't get beat up? 

They all made their way over to each other as the Captain and and Eren were out of sight, four heads turned to each. One blonde, one brown, one mousy-brown and one strawberry blonde: despite their all distinct differences they all shared a look of shock and confusion, none of them spoke for minutes before the taller blonde male spoke up, "So...is this what favouritism feels like? Because I'm an only child-"

"Oh, shut it, would you Eld? I'm trying to think." The strawberry blonde girl spat out as she shushed him, her hot-headed personality would have shocked anyone who had just met her, the three men around her knew otherwise as they had spent three whole years of training with her and another three in the Corps with her.

"I'm sorry, Miss.' _I have a fat crush on Captain and want him to have his way with meee-_ '" The dark haired male was cut short by a quick and impacting bash to the back of his skull by said Miss.

"Shut your mouth, Gunther, you promised you would keep that a secret. I swear, I'm never drinking with any of you ever again." She huffed and blew her fringe out of her face.

"Ah, don't get so riled up Petra dear, your secret is safe with us." Olou laughed out as all of the other joined in with him, Petra's face going beat red as she grunted and muttered curses under her breath.

"I hate you guys..." She pouted as she covered her face with her hair, a small smile trying to force it's way onto her lips despite her best efforts in fighting the grin.

"We love you too, Petra." They all nodded in agreement at Eld's statement, earning a relieved chuckle from her in response.

"What would I do without you guys?" She jumped and wrapped her arm's around the three men as they all laughed before Gunther spoke up.

"Come on, we should go before the Captain catches us slacking off on cleaning, wouldn't want that now would we?" 


	2. Clean up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes at end.

“Is this good enough?” The boy thought as he spun around the room that he had spent the last half hour cleaning up, to him, it was some of the best he had done. “I hope the Captain likes it.” He rushes off to go find said man, popping in and out of each room with eccentric energy, it slowly running out by the time he got to the correct room.

“Hm?” The Captain turns himself round to look at the huffing teenager who is hunched down, nearly kneeling.

“Captain,” Eren stood correctly once his breath was under control, “I finished cleaning upstairs.” His energy fully restored.

“Is that so? I’ll go che-“ Levi straightened up off the windowsill to go see how skilled the boy was before being cut off by Eren who jumped in front of him.

“Captain, where will I be expected to sleep?” He exclaimed before going quiet at the sight of the shorter male’s glare.

“To answer your question: you will be in the dungeon - while we’re in dreamland, you’re in restraints. You could go titan in your sleep, we can’t have that.” The Captain shoved Eren out of the way causing him to stumble. “Oh, and Eren?” He continued before leaving the room, “If you jump in front of me like that again or even interrupt me - I’m kicking you.”

“Huh? Uh? W-w-“ Before he could even get a word out, he was gone and the clattering of his shoes on the cobble stone floor was drifting further away. Scrunching his brow up in frustration, an immature grumble croaked out of him while he kicked the chair lightly out of pettiness.

“Don’t look so discouraged, Eren.” The high voice that he recognised from the courtyard shook Eren as he stumbled back in slight confusion and fear.

Her shoulder length strawberry blonde bob hung straight and neat, it complimented her porcelain skin and rosy cheeks well. Eren hadn’t had the chance to properly look over any of the squad until now, twitching his gaze over to the glass bottles on the shelf: he had to make sure that his skin hadn’t reddened. She was gorgeous, a sloped button nose, a slim face that held a youthful complexion, full and coloured lips but the most empowering feature were her eyes. Large and round with a glossy almond iris and not a bag in sight. ‘ _How does she have such perfect skin despite all the stress she must experience?_ ’ He internally groaned as she chatted with a very-used broom in hand.

Not much attention was going into what his veteran was saying, he was too busy trying to control any blush and envy that could show itself. All he could think of was how jealous he was, despite the fact that Eren could not give a single shit for how he was viewed, a hint of inferiority dwelled in his mind whenever he stood near these people. Examples would be, Mikasa, Reiner, Christa, The Captain, Petra and although he refused to admit it on the surface, deep down, Jean's height was also on this make believe list.

“Um, Eren?” She called out, staring right at him with only a few inches away from each other's faces, almost as if she just appeared there despite the fact that he was certain she was leant against the door frame a second ago.

“Huh? Ah!” He screamed with sudden shock while jumping back as he gripped his chest before slapping his mouth with a laugh of embarrassment. Folding over, he held his stomach before looking up at the woman who had puffed her cheeks out and had gone redder than a ripened apple.

“I-I’m sorry, Eren, It’s just...” She put her hand up to signal for him to give her a moment to compose herself. Fanning her face, her complexion slowly returned to its original state - a huff of relief left her lips as she started to mouth to herself before spinning back around to face the boy who was just sat on the ground watching her. Reaching out, she grasped his wrist and pulled him up so he was back on his feet, “Well, as I was saying, before whatever this little performance of ours was, the Captain is not what you expected, is he?” She asked while surveying the room with her broom, it occasionally knocking against the toes of her boots.

“Oh, well. No, not really. I expected him to be - Ah, I don’t know-“ He chuckled to himself as he tried to think of things he found surprising, he went to try and continue before Petra busted out a thought.

“Taller? You expected him to be taller?” A cheeky grin was plastered over her cheeks as she puffed out a childish laugh while covering her mouth. A sly look glazed her eyes, not a wicked one but most definitely not one with pure intentions.

“Miss.Petra! No, I- Never! The Captain is perfect, I respect him so much, height is nothing.” The honesty and bluntness of a teenage boy really shone through as he stood bright eyed gazing at her, not seeing a single thing strange about what he had just said.

“I- Eren.” She tried to find her words before shaking her head and patting his shoulder, “Please, I beg you. Please, get a filter!” She exclaimed while grasping his shoulder extra tight causing him to audibly wince in pain.

“Oi! Why aren’t either of you cleaning? Hm? Get the fuc-“ The Captain shouted out towards the two who jumped, quickly seeing Eren he cut himself off, “Just-, Get to work.” He huffed before walking into the room they stood in.

“Oh! Captain, my apologies, I’ll get right to it.” Petra bowed her head before rushing out, Eren could have sworn he saw a tint of dusty pink on her cheeks but he couldn’t get a good glance due to her rushing out so suddenly.

“And, you.” Eren gulped as the Captain paced back over, once they were standing face to face, more like face to chin, a grey stained thumb gritted uncomfortably against Eren’s forehead.

Once the Captain’s hand pulled itself away, Eren noticed a few flakes of ‘something’ fall off his brow and onto his nose. They both stood in silence before a sudden ache started in his upper nose bridge, quickly turning around, he pinched the tip of said nose and folded down as a couple squeaks came out of the boy.

“Ah, I’m s-sorr-“ He turned around again, folding with a sneeze a few more times before deciding to squat down and rub away at whatever the Captain had placed upon his forehead. A small pulsing had started in his frontal brain while his eyes watered up and his vision dizzying, a dull but audible white noise buzzing through his brain and ears. Pulling away his fingers from his forehead to see what was causing the fit of sneezing. A dusty grey chalk, dust.

‘ _Dust? The Captain placed fuckin’ dust on me? Are you serious? Why? Just why?_ ’ He gave an uncertain noise as he turned to see the grumpy man looming over him. “Your cleaning is lamentable, get the f-. Get back up there now and clean it over again, and you are to have no break until I have proof checked everything. Got that, Eren?” A bobble headed nod vibrated through Eren’s neck as he rubbed at his forehead to make sure the dust was gone. “Hurry up, or I’ll kick you.” Threatened the Captain as he drew his leg back in a vaguely intimidating manner, causing the brunette to stumble upon to his feet and run out while yelling a muffled ‘ **YES, SIR!** ’.

~~~

His chestnut hair pointed up in many different directions due to the sheer amount of dry sweat that had formed in it during his cleaning, after successfully completing his first room he was sent off to do another and then another and then another. No break given to the fifteen-year-old boy who was staring off at the setting sun, Eren had missed the lunch times which caused him to collapse to his knees while half way through his second room - lets just say the Captain didn't much appreciate this. 

The bruise on the side of his cheek had still not healed, it stung and ached, ' _I'm so tired, please, let me sleep!_ ' He mentally groaned while kicking the wall in front of himself before throwing himself back from where he was sat on a step. Feeling two bumps under his head, he squinted open an eye to see the poker-faced Captain who pursed his thin lips and kept silent before starting to mouth a countdown. Springing up so that he was sat back on his arse and not laid on his back, he gave a toothy grin to the Captain that trembled,

"H-hi, Captain." He barely spoke above a whisper as he once again started to gnaw on the inside of his cheeks, gasping when the Captain kicked up into his chin with a minimum but not non-existent force, he stared at the Captain as it was just silence that swallowed the two males.

The raven haired male cursed internally as he saw gems of salty water start to gloss over the kid's eyes, quickly stepping back he watched as Eren sniffled and silently let his tears drip down onto the back of his hands that lay on his lap. 

"Oi, brat? You alright?" He looked around the room and then through the hallway, not a single person in sight, with a short contemplation he grunted before squatting down and patting and repositioning the sobbing boy who just looked up at the man yet didn't say a word. "Hm? You there? Oi, Foetus-Face?" He carried on with nickname after nickname, the crying slowly stopping and a quick nod and 'Mhm.' broke the silence.

"Don't do that, I don't think I've ever been that close to pissing myself before, not even against _titans_. Did I hurt you?" He clarified as he pulled up the boy who was still rubbing eyes.

"N-no, I just, I'm really tired, sir. I remembered that I have to wait till the rest of you squad heads off to sleep before I can." He tried his best to explain but obviously needed to go no further as he saw the Captain nod in acknowledgment.

"I understand that feeling, Eren. I understand it well, don't worry. Are you at all hungry?" He asked as he took the broom that was laying on the floor and placed it over in a cupboard before making his way back over to the red and puffy eyed kid.

Eren nodded in response as he watched the Captain think, he could practically hear the cogs turning, "Wait here, I'll be right back." And before Eren knew it, he was back alone in the finally cleaned room.

"That was...embarrassing, I cried in front of the Captain, _Oh Maria_. I hope it doesn't get around." He pouted with a sigh before yelping as he watched the Captain jog and come to a stop in front of him.

"I'm not cruel, I won't damage your confidence more than I have already." He shook his head before motioning for Eren to follow him. "Alright, dinner is in two hours, okay? And since you have worked hard today and been under a lot of stress recently, I'm going to let you get a couple of hours sleep." He explained as Eren followed him into the Dungeon and towards a made bed.

"Ah, thank you, sir." He grinned before collapsing onto the bed and immediately relaxing himself into the pillow, his legs half hanging off the bed and arms lose by his side.

"I'll come to wake you up later, also, I'm only doing this because if you end up collapsing or even dying from exhaustion then it affects everyone, got that?" And without even another word nor answer the tapping of his boots wandered up the stairs and the brunette was left in silence.

In mere seconds, the boy had been put into a deep trance, too exhausted to even think in that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for thirty hits, it has only been a few days. aah, but like i said in my previous notes, last chapter, have any constructive criticism? give me, please.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, if you have any constructive criticism then please feel free to tell me it, I look to improve constantly and I hope you found the first chapter enjoyable.


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